- The SignalAI compute is leaving the planet
- The MoneyAlphabet's budget keeps climbing
- The MoneySpaceX is a public company now
- The FrontierSolar grew 30%. We're still at 0.73
- The LedgerWall Street's 2026 calls
- One ChartFive calls, one line
The Signal
AI compute is leaving the planet. Now there's a schedule.
Three groups have now put real hardware or real dates on orbital data centers. Starcloud launched a satellite carrying an Nvidia H100 in November 2025 and trained a language model on it in orbit the next month. Google launched its Project Suncatcher prototype with Planet this fall: four of its TPU chips in a sun-synchronous orbit, where the solar panels almost never sit in shade.
SpaceX is next. Elon Musk says SpaceX and Nvidia have designed a system “for launch to orbit in Q4 next year,” meaning late 2027, and he expects “significant scale in 2028.”
Why it matters
Power is the bottleneck for AI on Earth. In a sun-synchronous orbit, the sun almost never sets. Heat is the catch. With no air to carry it away, Google's chips run about 15 minutes at a time, and the project's lead says orbit won't be cheaper than Earth for at least five years.
Watch next
Whether SpaceX's first AI satellites fly by the end of 2027. It's logged in the Ledger.
The Money
Alphabet's 2026 budget: $195 billion to $205 billion.
Alphabet now expects capital spending of $195 billion to $205 billion this year, driven by demand for AI infrastructure. It raised that range in July from $180 billion to $190 billion. In the third quarter alone, it spent $51.4 billion.
Why it matters
Big Tech capex is the demand signal for chips, power plants and, one day, orbit. When the biggest buyers keep raising budgets, the whole supply chain moves with them.
The Money
SpaceX is a public company now.
SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq at $150 a share on June 12, 2026. Everyday investors now have a direct stake in whether Starship hits its milestones, and every slipped date shows up in a stock price.
The Frontier
Solar grew 30% last year. We're still at 0.73.
Solar generation grew 30% in 2025, according to the Energy Institute's 2026 Statistical Review. Humanity's total energy supply passed 600 exajoules, which works out to about 19 terawatts, around the clock.
On the Kardashev scale, which ranks civilizations by the power they use, that puts us at about 0.73. Type I means using all the sunlight that reaches Earth. One study puts that no earlier than 2371.
The Ledger
Wall Street's 2026 calls. Scoring Dec 31.
In late 2025, five banks said where they expected the S&P 500 to finish 2026. We score every one on December 31, in public.
S&P 500, end of 2026
Scored in 50 days| Forecaster | Call | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Deutsche Bank | 8,000 | Pending |
| Morgan Stanley | 7,800 | Pending |
| Wells Fargo | 7,800 | Pending |
| JPMorgan | 7,500* | Pending |
| HSBC | 7,500 | Pending |
* JPMorgan added: 8,000 or more if the Fed cut rates faster.
New in the Ledger this week:
- SpaceX AI satellites reach orbitElon Musk, Aug 2026. due Dec 31, 2027.Pending
- Orbital compute stays costlier than EarthGoogle's Suncatcher lead, Oct 2026. due Oct 2031.Pending
One Chart
Five calls, one line.
Where each bank's year-end target sits. The dashed line is JPMorgan's upside case if the Fed cuts faster.
This sample is free.
The real one lands every weekday before the open.
Orrery is general information, not investment advice. Facts are as reported on the dates shown.